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The Miz
| birth_place = Parma, Ohio | death_date = | death_place = | resides = Louisville, Kentucky | billed = Cleveland, Ohio | trainer = Al Snow Bill DeMott UPW Ultimate University | debut = 2003 | retired = |}} Michael "The Miz" Mizanin (October 8, 1980) is an American professional wrestler working for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on its RAW brand. Before being promoted to the main WWE roster, Mizanin trained and wrestled with Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW) and Deep South Wrestling (DSW), where he became the first Deep South Heavyweight Champion. Mizanin was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), working in tag team action and winning the tag titles, the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, on one occasion. After signing with WWE, Mizanin became host of the annual WWE Diva Search competition in 2006. Following his hosting duties, Mizanin made his wrestling debut in September 2006, as a villain who went "undefeated". In 2007, he was drafted from SmackDown to the ECW brand, where he formed a partnership with John Morrison, in which the two held both the WWE Tag Team Championship and the World Tag Team Championship. He was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2009 WWE Draft, where he won the WWE United States Championship on two occasions. In July 2010, he won a Money in the Bank ladder match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, earning a contract for a WWE Championship match. On the November 22, 2010 edition of Monday Night Raw The Miz cashed in his contract to defeat Randy Orton to win the WWE Championship. Professional Wrestling Career Pursuing the goal of becoming a professional wrestler which he had harbored from an early age, Mizanin joined Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW), where he trained in the Ultimate University. He made his in-ring debut in 2003 as the Miz. During his time with UPW, the Miz competed in UPW's Mat War's tournament, making it to the finals before losing to Tony Stradlin. World Wrestling Entertainment (2004–present) In October 2004, Mizanin entered the fourth season of Tough Enough, a televised competition which would award the winner a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) contract and the sum of $1,000,000. Despite coming last in an arm wrestling tournament on November 25, 2004, Mizanin outlasted six other wrestlers, and made it to the final round. At the pay-per-view event, Armageddon, Mizanin faced the other remaining entrant, Daniel Puder, in a three round "Dixie Dogfight" (boxing match). Neither man achieved a knockout, and the contest was awarded to Puder on the basis of crowd reaction. On the December 16, 2004 episode of SmackDown!, Puder was announced as the winner of Tough Enough by head trainer Al Snow. Despite losing the Tough Enough contest, Mizanin had piqued the interest of WWE, and he was eventually offered a developmental contract. Mizanin was sent to Deep South Wrestling (DSW) to train under Bill DeMott, relocating to McDonough, Georgia in the process. In July 2005, he wrestled two dark matches for WWE, teaming with former Tough Enough champion Matt Cappotelli to face The Highlanders (Robbie and Rory McAllister). On December 1, 2005, Mizanin defeated Mike Knox in the finals of a tournament to crown the first Deep South Heavyweight Champion. He continued his partnership with Matt Cappotelli throughout the second half of 2005 in WWE dark matches and house shows until Cappotelli, nominally of Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), was diagnosed with a brain tumor after an injury at a taping in December 2005. Ohio Valley Wrestling On January 3, 2006, it was reported that Mizanin was transferred to Ohio Valley Wrestling. On the January 18, 2006, OVW TV show, Mizanin made his debut as "The Miz", with a Miz TV segment, where he was shown talking backstage. On the January 28, 2006, edition of the OVW television show, The Miz wrestled his first singles match against Rene Dupree, but lost by countout. At the February 8, 2006 TV taping, The Miz and Chris Cage captured the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, defeating Chet the Jett and Seth Skyfire. In what was deemed a "disciplinary move", WWE released Cage over the weekend of March 18, 2006, making it necessary for Miz and Cage to drop the titles. On March 19, 2006, Deuce Shade defeated The Miz in a singles contest to win the titles for his team The Untouchables (Deuce Shade and Domino). SmackDown! (2006–2007) On March 7, 2006, WWE's official website featured a video of "The Miz" stating that he was headed to Friday Night SmackDown! and throughout April, SmackDown! aired vignettes hyping his debut. When Mizanin actually attempted to make his debut on the April 21, 2006 episode of SmackDown!, however, he was, in storyline barred from entering the arena by "network executive" Palmer Cannon who told him that he had been "canceled" before having security escort him from the premises. On May 31, 2006, WWE.com announced that he would serve as SmackDown!'s "host". The Miz debuted as the "host" on June 2, 2006, announcing the planned card at the top of the show and attempting to hype up the crowd. Other "host" duties included backstage interviews and hosting a bikini contest. The hosting duties seemed sporadic at best, with some weeks having little to no involvement of Miz at all. Starting in July, Miz, along with Ashley Massaro, became host of the annual Diva Search competition appearing on both Raw and SmackDown!. After the end of the Diva Search competition, The Miz returned exclusively to SmackDown! and adopted a villainous persona, starting his in-ring competition with a win over Tatanka in a September 2006 episode of SmackDown!. After this win he, along with commentator Michael Cole, began to note whenever possible that he was "undefeated", though he only wrestled five matches over the next two months, defeating such superstars as Matt Hardy, Funaki, and Scotty 2 Hotty. At the same time he began a feud with Diva Search winner Layla El, who spurned his advances on more than one occasion, leading to Miz helping Kristal defeat her in various competitions. Soon, however, Miz and Kristal found themselves being stalked by The Boogeyman. This began a feud in which the Boogeyman ended the Miz's winning streak at December's Armageddon event. Following a brief absence from television, The Miz returned to SmackDown! to host an interview segment called Miz TV. After the unsuccessful segment, the Miz returned to in-ring competition with a more intense style and began to pick up wins once again. On the June 11, 2007 episode of Raw, Mizanin faced off against Snitsky in a match to determine a draft pick for SmackDown!. Snitsky easily defeated the Miz to give ECW the draft pick, but after constantly assaulting the Miz after the match, the referee reversed the decision and awarded the match to Miz, thus allowing SmackDown! a draft pick. SmackDown!'s pick was then revealed to be Chris Masters. ECW and teaming with John Morrison (2007–2009) Miz was drafted from SmackDown! to ECW on June 17, 2007 as part of the 2007 Supplemental Draft. He was absent from the first few weeks of ECW, though he was the subject of backstage mentions between matches and had several short Miz TV Crashes ECW video segments. He made his debut on the July 10 episode of ECW in a match against Nunzio, which he won. Following this match, Extreme Exposé began expressing admiration in him and gave him a lap-dance, starting a new gimmick for him of a self-proclaimed "chick magnet". Extreme Exposé then became managers for The Miz. He then began a feud with Balls Mahoney, after Kelly Kelly began to fall in love with Mahoney on screen. On the October 2 episode of ECW, it was revealed that Miz owned the contracts of Kelly Kelly, Layla, and Brooke Adams, and used this excuse to stop Kelly from going out with Mahoney. He was voted at Cyber Sunday to face CM Punk, for the ECW Championship but lost the match. On the November 16 episode of SmackDown, he became one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions with John Morrison when they defeated Matt Hardy and Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) in a title match, which gave the Miz his first title within the company. In February 2008, Miz and Morrison were given a streaming segment on the WWE website named The Dirt Sheet in which they mocked other wrestlers and facets of pop culture, showing off their promo skills. Morrison and The Miz co-wrote each episode of The Dirt Sheet each week. Since holding the titles, WWE downplayed the angle of Miz and Morrison disliking each other, and since has portrayed them as friends. The team had many successful title defenses over the next few months, before dropping the championship to Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder at the Great American Bash in a Fatal Four-Way match which also featured Jesse and Festus and Finlay and Hornswoggle. Neither Miz nor Morrison were pinned, as Hawkins pinned Jesse to win the titles. Miz and Morrison soon followed a feud with Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspard and JTG) as a battle of their webshows, "Word Up" and "The Dirt Sheet". The two would be victorious against Cryme Tyme in a match at Cyber Sunday where they were voted in. On December 13, 2008, Miz and Morrison defeated Kofi Kingston and CM Punk to win the World Tag Team Championship during a WWE house show in Hamilton Ontario, Canada. The team then engaged themselves in a feud with The Colóns (Carlito and Primo). At WrestleMania XXV, they lost the World Tag Team Championship to The Colóns in a Lumberjack match to unify the World Tag Team and the WWE Tag Team titles. On the April 13 episode of Raw, The Miz lost a match to Kofi Kingston due to Morrison's inadvertent interference, which gave Raw a draft pick in the 2009 WWE Draft. The pick was then revealed to be The Miz, and he subsequently attacked Morrison, ending their partnership. He challenged John Cena to a match on the April 27 episode of Raw, but as Cena was out due to injury, Miz claimed an unofficial win via forfeit and continued to do this over the following weeks, until Cena defeated him in a singles match at The Bash. On the August 3 episode of Raw, The Miz lost a match to Cena, which meant that, in storyline, he was banned from the Staples Center, Raw and SummerSlam. The following week, on August 10, Miz competed under a mask as "The Calgary Kid", and won a Contract on Pole match against Eugene, earning a contract in storyline, and revealing himself by removing his mask afterwards. Championships reigns (2009–2010) The following week on Raw, The Miz announced his intention to challenge for the WWE United States Championship, and also debuted new ring attire and a new finishing move, the Skull Crushing Finale, to defeat Evan Bourne. He challenged for the United States Championship at the Night of Champions, Breaking Point and Hell in a Cell pay-per-views, but was unsuccessful. On the October 5 episode of Raw, the night after Hell in a Cell, The Miz received a rematch for the championship, and defeated Kofi Kingston to win the United States Championship and his first singles championship in WWE. The following pay-per-view event, Bragging Rights, was themed with inter-promotional matches and now that The Miz was the second-tier champion on Raw he was booked against SmackDown's Intercontinental Champion, his erstwhile tag team partner John Morrison. In the build up to their first match since splitting, the two hosted a one-off edition of The Dirt Sheet on the October 16 episode of SmackDown where the two compared themselves to '80s tag team The Rockers, debating over which is more comparable to the successful Shawn Michaels and which was the less successful Marty Jannetty. At Bragging Rights, Miz pinned Morrison to become the only member of the Raw roster to win an inter-promotional match. The following month at Survivor Series, Miz captained a team of five wrestlers against Team Morrison in a five-on-five Survivor Series elimination match and once again bested his former partner. In 2010, The Miz began a rivalry with MVP that began with a critically well-received verbal exchange between the two. The two met in an unadvertised match for the United States Championship at the Royal Rumble event with Miz retaining his title, but in the Royal Rumble match itself MVP eliminated both himself and The Miz. During the rivalry with MVP, Miz began showing signs of an allegiance with The Big Show and on the February 8 episode of Raw, the two defeated champions D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) and The Straight Edge Society (CM Punk and Luke Gallows) to become the Unified WWE Tag Team Champions, making Miz a triple champion. On February 16, it was announced that he would be on the WWE NXT show as the storyline mentor of Daniel Bryan. During the 2010 WWE Draft on the April 26 episode of Raw, ShoMiz lost the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship to The Hart Dynasty when Tyson Kidd made The Miz submit to the Sharpshooter. After the match, The Big Show knocked out The Miz, and was later drafted to the SmackDown brand, leaving The Miz on Raw. On May 10, Kidd defeated The Miz in a match, which earned any member of The Hart Dynasty a match for the United States Championship, and The Miz, who was allowed to chose his opponent, elected to face Bret Hart. On the following episode of Raw on May 17, Hart defeated The Miz to win the United States Championship, despite Chris Jericho, William Regal, and Vladimir Kozlov attempting to interfere on The Miz's behalf. On June 1, The Miz announced that he would be returning as a Pro for the second season of NXT, the only Pro to do so. He will be mentoring Alex Riley. On the June 14 episode of Raw, The Miz defeated R-Truth, John Morrison, and Zack Ryder in a fatal four-way match to win the United States Championship for the second time, and successfully retained the championship against R-Truth at the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view. WWE Champion (2010) On July 18, at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, The Miz won a Money in the Bank ladder match to win a contract for a WWE Championship match that he could utilize at any time over the next year. The following night on Raw, The Miz attempted to cash in his Money in the Bank contract on the WWE Champion Sheamus, but was interrupted by R-Truth and changed his mind, retaining the contract for future use. Daniel Bryan returned to WWE at SummerSlam, taking The Miz's place on Team WWE, causing The Miz to attack him. This began a rivalry between the two, with The Miz losing the United States Championship to Bryan at the Night of Champions event in September. The following month, Miz defeated John Cena to become the captain of Team Raw, but at the Bragging Rights pay-per-view Team Raw—The Miz, R-Truth, John Morrison,Santino Marella,Sheamus, CM Punk, and Ezekiel Jackson—were unsuccessful in defeating Team SmackDown. On the November 22 episode of Raw, following a successful WWE Championship defense by Orton against Wade Barrett, The Miz cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to become the new WWE Champion. He successfully defended the championship against Jerry Lawler in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match on the following episode of Raw, due to help from Michael Cole and Alex Riley, and again at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view in December by defeating Orton in a Tables match. Moves And Finishers Mizard of Oz-Spinning Neckbreaker Chick Magnet Jawbreaker-Shoulder Jawbreaker Reality Check-Running Knee Lift followed with a neckbreaker with theatrics Skull Crushing Finale-Full Nelson Facebuster Super Neckbreaker Pin Drop Toe Facecrusher Face Crusher Scoop Slam and Big Boot Head Punch Step up Enziguiri Championships and accomplishments * Deep South Wrestling :* Deep South Heavyweight Champion (1 time) (First) * Ohio Valley Wrestling :* OVW Southern Tag Team Champion (1 time) - with Chris Cage * World Wrestling Entertainment :* WWE Championship (1 time) (Current) :* WWE United States Championship (2 times) :* World Tag Team Champion (1 time) - with John Morrison :* WWE Tag Team Champion (1 time) - with John Morrison :*WWE Unified Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Big Show :*Slammy Award for Tag Team of the Year (2008) - with John Morrison :*Slammy Award for Best WWE.com Exclusive (2008) - with John Morrison See also *Mike Mizanin's event history *Mike Mizanin's gimmicks External links and references *Mike Mizanin Official Myspace *The Miz profile at WWE.com *Mike Mizanin's theme Category:American wrestlers Category:Deep South Wrestling alumni Category:Florida Championship Wrestling alumni Category:Ohio Valley Wrestling alumni Category:Pro Wrestling Alliance alumni Category:Ultimate Pro Wrestling alumni Category:World Wrestling Entertainment current roster Category:WWE Tough Enough contestants Category:1980 births